Threadgill's Revenue and Competitors

It has been said that "Threadgill's was Austin's first theme restaurant and its theme is AUSTIN." (John Morthland in the L.A. Times) That sounded good to me so let's take it a bit further and claim the 1930's through 1960's in Austin as the theme of the original Threadgill's on North Lamar Blvd. The big, new shiny one downtown sits next door to the site of the late, great Armadillo World Headquarters and contains a large portion of memorabilia from the musical hey-day of Austin in the 1970's. The juke box holds 100 albums of artists who played the 'dillo and the piano hanging from the ceiling was played by artists as diverse as Count Basie and Commander Cody, Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles, Leon Russell and Captain Beefheart. Threadgill's tries to serve as a link between the new Austin and its past. In matters of music and food, we represent a time before disco or microwaves. I've been fortunate enough to encounter many of the colorful and talented folks who have made creative contributions to the city over the past fifty years. I've saved mementos that I'll share with you if you'll just take a moment to look around. -Eddie Wilson, Proprietor